Nightly Conversations
by Fayalargo Winterwoelfin
Summary: Extra Chapter to 'There is no End'. On their last evening in Europe, Waya convices Touya to celebrate their trip 'adequatly'. Some alcohol gets even Touya to open up a bit.


Disclaimer: I don't Hikago. 

A/N: As the summary says, it's an extra chapter to my story 'There Is No End' to Chapter one where Waya and Touya 'celebrate' their last evening in Europe. Thanks a lot to Filia, who after reading it, encouraged me to post it, and for supporting me! (And to Meadhros who encouraged me without even reading it. :-) )

Enjoy reading!

* * *

**Chapter 1. Extra. Waya and Touya at night.**

Waya put the two glasses on the table, filled some clear liquid into them and added some ice-cubes to each. One he handed to Touya, the other he kept for himself.

Touya put the glass to his lips, but then halted and sniffed.

"I don't like to drink alcohol," he politely said and moved to give the glass back to Waya.

Waya refused vehemently. "No, no, no! You drink it!" He pushed the glass back in Touya's hands. "This is our last evening here and we have to celebrate. That's tradition for these trips!"

"I'm not yet old enough to drink," Touya insisted.

"Nonsense! In Europe, that's different!" Waya said with the conviction of someone who didn't know, but wanted to believe.

After some time Akira finally gave in and took a sip of the drink. It didn't taste that bad.

They were seated in the bar-like area of the hotel but since it was already well past midnight, there was no one else there besides them. There were deep, comfortable chairs of black leather that shone softly brown in the dim light.

They played some Go, but somewhere in the game started to talk, because Waya had spotted a move of Touya's that reminded him of Shindou's play. Suddenly they recognised that it wasn't only Go that they had in common, but also a - sometimes irritated - fascination towards their half-way bleached colleague.

Waya told Akira that Shindou, after he had invited him to go to the Euro-Go with him, had _earnestly_ asked him what the Euro-Go was.

"But it has been in the 'Weekly Go' for over five months!" Akira answered, shocked.

"I know!" Waya agreed, shaking his head in despair, "Shindou freely, almost _proudly_ admitted of reading pretty much only the kifu in the 'Weekly Go'! And he never reads any of the placards in the Institute."

"But that's incredible! He," Akira hesitated,"… must read that!"

"_I _know. But Shindou doesn't care. He claims that playing Go is enough for being a Go pro! If I weren't there telling him everything…"

"Shindou is unbelievable!" Akira said and Waya heartily agreed.

They continued playing for a while.

The staff of the hotel had already gone, but they had assured Waya that it was okay to take glasses, water and ice-cubes from the bar. Their drink Waya had organised himself.

From talking about Shindou it wasn't a far step to reach the topic of Sai, one that had touched them both deeply. Once Waya had perceived Touya's urging interest, he hadn't hesitated to present all his thoughts and theories about the mysterious internet legend.

"You thought Shindou was Sai's pupil!" Touya's voice was harsh with surprise.

"Yeah?" Waya bristled, "What's wrong with that? He denied it anyway!"

"What's wrong with that?" Akira shook his head, already a bit dizzy from the alcohol he had drunk. "Nothing's wrong. I just think it's very …interesting. A theory I had never considered before."

_Because I thought Shindou _was_ Sai…_

Waya narrowed his eyes. "What do you think about Sai? Do you know anything?"

Akira stared at him for a moment. Considered. Telling Waya the truth revealed a bit too much for his liking.

"The only thing I've ever found out about Sai is that I don't know anything at all," Akira dryly said.

_Shindou… you promised to tell me!_

"Hey, Touya, now don't get all philosophic on me!" Waya chuckled.

Some time later they ended their game, sometimes talking, sometimes not.

Waya shook his head. "I can't believe you're that good! That's uncanny."

Touya leaned back in the dark-brown leather chair, looking at the black and white stones on the light brown wooden board, all glowing friendly in the warm, yellowish light. He took another sip of his drink.

"Uncanny? I don't think so. It's just a lot of work." He looked at Waya, "If you see how strong the competition is, in Korea, in China, even in Japan, what I do, it's nothing."

"So?" Waya refilled his glass and then leaned back as well, gazing at Touya, who in the late hour of the night had finally the grace to look a bit dishevelled. "There are many people who work as much, if not even more than you, and still can never reach what you have."

Touya met Waya's gaze for a moment, seeming a lot more mature than his sixteen years.

"Talent also plays a great role," he said soberly, before he continued, "I'm probably a great deal more talented than the average Go player," Touya admitted without any trace of pride or conceit, "but I too, I had to work very hard from a very young age for what I have become."

Waya thought some time about that statement, and tried to work out why, despite his words, he couldn't really think of Touya as arrogant any more.

"When did you start playing Go?" Waya asked, suddenly curious.

Pensively Akira stared at the board for board for some time, saying nothing.

Waya waited whether the other would answer. Touya was pretty much as prideful as himself. Only better at Go. Should that make him really arrogant? Waya wondered what a person had to sacrifice in order to reach such a mastery of a game in such a short time.

Was Touya drunk enough to answer him? Or would he simply refuse? Even if he did, Waya wouldn't be intimidated by him anymore.

Suddenly Touya spoke up, first very low, then growing a little bit surer.

"I started playing Go when I was two years old." He took another sip of his drink, which was now empty. He held the glass out for Waya, who refilled it.

"I heard a rumour that you weren't allowed to play with other children." At that time, Waya hadn't really cared.

Akira answered with a small sigh, "When I was five, I was already able to beat children twice my age."

"I heard that rumour too, but had trouble believing it…" Waya said.

"But at the time," Touya continued, "I played mostly for fun. I saw the pros visiting my father's house and longed to copy them, and mostly my father, of course, and I started playing too, every day."

Waya's eyebrows rose.

"I knew you were crazy," he said with a trace of admiration in his voice.

"Hn," Touya snorted softly, "It was only when I was six that I became aware of what it did really mean, being a professional." Akira closed his eyes for a moment. He remained silent for a few seconds, before he continued.

"And then I decided that I, full knowing the hardships a player had to go through, despite them, also wanted to become one."

Waya leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees and catching Touya's gaze.

"But how could you know that!" he exclaimed, "You were only six then! I had barely begun playing!"

Touya seriously met his gaze.

"I could see the experience first hand," he told Waya, "it was a time when there was lot of commotion in father's study group."

Suddenly he stopped, frowning. "But I'm talking too much." That absolutely wasn't like him, "That must be your drink!" He glared at his once again half-emptied glass. Waya could clearly tell that Touya was embarrassed.

"Go on, go on," he insisted, curious of how much the usually closed up Touya would tell him.

Touya started to refuse, but he didn't hold up long under Waya's insistency. In his mind, Waya was smirking. See Touya, a bit alcohol and prodding and you don't stand a chance! Maybe you are human after all!

Akira started talking. "First, there was Ogata-san. He was, and still is, father's most gifted student. He was some kind of model student for us others… until my father discovered how lazy he was. Father told him he wasted his gift and if he didn't start working harder soon, he would lose the good form he was in. Ogata-san didn't openly contradict my father, of course, but he remained as lazy as he was."

Touya chuckled lowly. "I knew, because we were as near as brothers…"

Wide-eyed Waya stared at Touya and almost chocked. "Ogata-sensei…?" Somehow the two title holder didn't make the impression of being neither very lazy nor very brotherly.

Touya grinned. "He did. He wasn't always as serious as he's now," then he sobered up again, as he continued talking, "only when my father noticed he still wasn't doing anything, he chided him often, and I think it really was because of that that Ogata-san's performance abated. Only when my father threatened to throw him out of the study group he started working hard. It didn't suit him, but he admired father too much to contradict him. And it was a long way for him to the grand form he now has."

He suddenly became acutely aware of how much and of how private things he was talking and stopped.

"The Ogata-san you tell me and I know… they seem pretty different!" Waya decided.

"He has become unpleasantly ambitious now," Touya continued, despite actually wanting to stop, almost sadly, "He has gotten too full of himself… or lost too much of his real self… I don't know," Akira's voice became distant, as he seemed became lost in his thoughts. "I believe that as a Go player you have to always remain true to yourself. That's most important. Not only how strong your play is."

"Do you earnestly believe this?" Waya asked.

"Go, _real Go_, is like a mirror for a soul," Akira explained absent-mindedly, not really looking at Waya, "If you pour your entire being into it, then it's pure. And pure Go is always interesting Go. Sometimes I play beginners who play better, in a way, than some pros. When I play them they feel so _real_ to me, even in their ignorance, more real than some pro's whose play's good, but entirely hollow. Skilled but without personality or spirit."

Touya took another, this time, deep swallow of his glass. He frowned, seemed to notice Waya sitting across him, and lowered his gaze.

"Excuse-me," he apologised quietly, "I didn't mean to lecture."

Waya didn't react, but stared at Akira, lost in his thoughts. Somehow Akira, who normally couldn't assess the red-haired man very well, could see the emotions flickering over his face. Waya probably wasn't aware of it and didn't even seem to notice that he was thinking it: _And what about me?_ Akira read in his face. _I'm not one of those hollow players, am I? You don't think_ that _of me?_

Akira answered the unspoken, unnoticed question with a small smile. _Would I have played you more than necessary if so?_

Waya 'awoke' with a start, and Akira wasn't sure if he hadn't imagined their wordless conversation.

Suddenly he was his usual conscious self again. "Don't tell anybody what I said!" His mind in a rather hazy state, he still perceived that he wouldn't want bothering anybody with his thoughts, but somehow couldn't help it.

Waya grinned mischievously and refilled Touya's glass.

Only because you've identified the responsible of your current miserable state didn't automatically mean you did something to change it. Akira took another sip from his glass and the drowsy warmness in him grew even more.

"You might as well continue now," Waya said, enjoying the sight of Touya's reddish-tinted cheeks and slightly unfocused gaze, all contrary to his usual concentrated stare. "How did it go on?"

"Where was I?" Akira asked, not quite sure how to interpret his vis-à-vis' smile. But Waya had been right, he might as well continue now. No matter how embarrassing something might turn out, Akira was the type to see it through to the end. "Ah… then there was Shimano-san, you probably know him, don't you?"

"He was Japan's amateur representative for several years in a row and he played at the tournament where all that commotion about s a i was." Waya, intrigued by Sai's play, remembered that event clearly.

"Exactly. He was in the study group at that time too. He was a nice, hard-working person, and always ready to laugh. He liked children, and most often he played with me.

"But his problem was that he wasn't very strong. He worked hard to pass the pro exam. Once he narrowly failed. But the time after…" Akira took a black stone out of his goke, but instead of toying it which must have been against every educational imprint from his childhood, he dropped it back in, "Because my father let him play so often with me, he saw how much I was progressing… I noticed how hard he tried not to be discouraged.

"Before his next pro exam he picked up courage again and he played well at that time, but in the end he failed, because some very strong insei had developed in the last year.

"We had all noticed how he had barely held up against the pressure and we all knew it was best when he decided to play only as an amateur. I was sad, when he left. We had been very close. So, when I, at thirteen, finally decided to pass the exam," Waya noticed that Touya said _pass the exam_, he didn't _try_, "it was a bit for him, too."

Akira ended, his throat dry. He stood up and went to the bar. His sight was dizzy and he didn't feel sure on his feet at all. _And I'm talking far too much…_ he thought, embarrassed, but couldn't muster much self-reproach in his present state. _I'll never drink alcohol again._ He got his glass of water, and returned.

Waya followed him with his gaze.

"And that's it then?" he asked, "After Ogata-sensei and Shimano-san… you decided to start working hard?"

"Yes…"

"You were only six then!" Waya protested.

Touya's voice was calm as he asked, "Does that matter that much? I knew what I wanted."

"But how could you know that, at six!"

"I told you. I watched. And I simply knew."

"You scare me!"

"I shouldn't," Akira softly said, "I'm only a Go player."

"But don't you ever regret your decision?" Waya asked.

Akira looked to the side. "What use is thinking about that?" he said, "I wouldn't change now, anyway."

Waya frowned, "But you did miss a lot of carefree childhood. And friends, I guess."

"I had Go to love, and I knew it would be better, once passed pro."

"Shindou?"

"'A rival is more worth than a lover,' I once heard a wise person say."

"And who?"

"I don't tell you."

Waya leaned nearer and insisted: "WHO?"

Akira had to smile as he watched Waya's face change. "Kuwabara-sensei."

Akira waited before Waya's shocked cough had ceased. Kuwabara could intimidate you - even when he wasn't present.

"Do you ever think of what you would be, or become, when you didn't have Go?" Akira asked Waya in return.

"No, well, yes, I actually I do," Waya admitted.

"And do you regret your decision?"

Waya hesitated shortly and then shook his head. "There are many who only become pro after they made their experiences in the 'real world', like Kadowaki-san for example, but me… I don't need to!"

"See," Akira smiled. "We're Go players. No more, no less."

They said nothing for a time, until Waya asked: "Wanna play another game?"

"Sure."

Somewhere in the middle of the game Waya's cell phone bleeped.

He jerked and hurried to produce his phone. "I hope it's from Nase," he mumbled.

"It is!"

'_I won today. Only five games to go now!'_

At Waya's broad, joyful grin, Akira asked, "Who's Nase?"

And Waya, too, was drunk enough not to hold anything back.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for reading! Any thoughts you might have on this little chapter are welcome and interesting to me. :-) 


End file.
